In FF3 (although haven't looked in other browsers) if you have the window less than half the screen (on my monitor) the avatars don't scale and cover up the text... Fancy going for the "web 2.0" approach to the code?

no it'd a crappy 15" tft that I have to work on - they won't let me get a new monitor yet I only noticed it as I have the web open on half my screen with a text editor and shell running on the other half - very cramped but gotta work with what I have.